Open Door


A project of the Diocese of Chichester

Press release about Open Door.

A review of the long-term viability of Open Door, the Diocese of Chichester’s support project for people with HIV, has led to the reluctant decision to close the service within the next six months.

A spokesman for Open Door said that the nature of living with HIV was changing and for many people improvement in treatments meant that being HIV-positive was becoming much more about living with a manageable long-term condition.

The types of services which people needed were also changing with more people now requiring services they can access as and when they need to (i.e. to resolve specific issues, etc), rather than necessarily on an ongoing or regular basis.  

“Open Door has attempted to respond to this challenge over recent years but it is increasingly apparent that the current premises are not suitable for the services provided,” the spokesman said.

 

“Open Door and the Diocese of Chichester have been involved in plans to secure new more-suitable premises and had hoped that this would lead to a new way of working, of hosting other professionals, and working in partnership with other agencies to deliver services". 
 
“Open Door is now in a position where the risk of continuing to invest in such a development is too great in terms of the overall viability of the organisation”, he added.

“Accordingly, the diocese has concluded that it is in the best interests of service-users to work towards securing the longer-term future of essential services rather than to attempt to preserve the host organisation. To ensure that service-user needs are central to this process a full consultation will be undertaken and the results will inform future service plans.”  The process and timetable for consultation will be communicated shortly.

In the meantime services will continue at Open Door. “The diocese would like to take this opportunity to recognise the considerable contribution to the well-being of people with HIV and AIDS made through Open Door over some twenty years,” said the spokesman. “We are most grateful to staff, volunteers, fundraisers, and everyone who has been part of the life of the project.”